


A Place of Strength

by momijizukamori



Category: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-14
Updated: 2013-08-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 10:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momijizukamori/pseuds/momijizukamori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all transformations happen instantly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Place of Strength

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stealth_Noodle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealth_Noodle/gifts).



Impa knew the places to hide when they fled the castle, the people who would take them in and keep them in their attics when Ganondorf's men came around asking questions. Zelda had always known her bodyguard and caretaker was strong and wise, but it wasn't until then that she realized exactly how much care the Sheikah had put into guarding her family over the years, how deep their web of protection ran.

It was Impa that showed her how to disguise herself, in those first few months. It began simply enough - her fine silk and linen dress bundled up, stuffed in the bottom of their packs, exchanged for the rougher weaves of the clothes townsfolk wore. The soldiers were, after all, looking for a princess - not a quiet farmer's daughter who kept her eyes down and knew her place. Nobody went out after night, any more, but for the most part, life was not so very different for ordinary folk. Guardian and charge kept moving, never staying once place more than a few weeks, but it was enough time for Impa to give her training - how to run, how to hide, simple charms that made the best use of her magic without drawing too much attention from their new sorcerer-king.

As the months began to look like they might be years, and the land began to collapse under the weight of Ganondorf's greed, the moves became more frequent, the training more necessary - magics that would make her skin appear darker, her eyes a different color; how to use the blinding flash of Deku nuts as both a weapon and a defense; how to use a short blade, should, goddesses help them, it ever become necessary. Impa didn't need to say anything for Zelda to know that things were becoming more hopeless for her country - it was clear in the lands they passed through, in the weary looks of villagers, in the tension around her caretaker's mouth.

After one training session, sweaty and covered in dirt and grass from practicing dodges, Zelda looked up at Impa - not so much taller now than she had once seemed - and asked, "He's coming back, isn't he? The Hero of Time - he has to some day." Impa gave her a weary smile in return. "I hope you're right, child. For all of our sakes."

After being cornered in an alley by one of Ganondorf's men, where a disastrous end was only narrowly averted by Impa's arrival, it became clear that it was no longer safe for a young woman to travel alone, even within the villages. That night, after she had cried out her fear and exhaustion, clinging to her protector, Impa had showed her how bind her chest flat with cloth, how to wear men's clothes instead of skirts and dresses. The lessons, in the few snatches of relative safety they could grab here and there, now included how to walk with her head held high and her shoulders squared - in sharp contrast to the demure manners she had been taught as a girl. If she braided her hair properly, it'd fit under a cap, and the little charms to change her eyes and skin hid the rest of her features until there was nothing left to connect her to the missing princess.

The first time they went out, and a merchant called her 'sir', she nearly spoiled the disguise with hysterical laughter. The first few attempts were fraught with a fear she hadn't felt since the first weeks of their flight from the castle - that someone would see through the charms and the clothes and the mannerisms to who she really was. But it didn't happen, and as she grew more comfortable, she discovered that there was a certain freedom in the transformation to her other self. There was no weight of expectations that came with being the future ruler, or even that came with being a woman. She could be bold and strong and nobody would look at her strangely for being 'unladylike'. Men's clothing was easier to move and run and fight in, and even the chest wrap began to feel supportive instead of restricting after a while.

"I need a boy's name, if I keep doing this," she said one morning over their meager breakfast of tea and dried fruit that had seen better days. "Nobody has asked yet-" Nobody asked any questions, these days. "-but someone is going to ask eventually. Vyna won't work." Impa looked over her charge, who was no longer the scared little girl she'd smuggled out of the castle years ago - her hair was already braided and pinned up, and she had a rough, loose shirt on, the sleeves rolled up enough that lean muscle was visible beneath them.

"Sheik," she finally replied, after a moment of silent contemplation. Zelda looked up from her careful dissection of the fruit into pieces that were at least chewable. "Sheik? Does it mean something?" Impa smiled. "'Shadow', usually. But also 'guardian' - a shadow is always with you, after all. And you will become this land's guardian." Zelda looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled. "I like that, I think. Thank you."

'Sheik' became the things that 'Zelda' could not be. Where a princess was supposed to quiet, he could be bold. Where Zelda was supposed to be protected, Sheik could protect. This other part of herself became a refuge as her country crumbled around her, a place of strength to draw on until she could do more. And when that day came...

"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time."


End file.
